• email has no subject line (may be deleted by our spam filter)
• contains name calling (e.g. such and such is/are "crazy", "in maya", "rascal", "deviants" etc.)
  
• has portions of text in ALL CAPS (all caps is considered shouting on the Internet)
  
• text written in an overall angry mood which will excite angry responses
  
• text that respond to an article by assaulting the character of the author
  
• tries to establish one group or person as the "only bona fide group" etc.
  
• text that is followed by emails listing corrections. If corrections are needed - submit the entire text in the corrected version.
• text that has extensive formating problems such as many quotes like this, or has other formatting problems that will require much work to fix:
  

  > this is text from the quote...
  > this is text from the quote...
  > this is text from the quote...
  

Here is the correct quote format (paragraphs separated by blank space):

Author wrote:

"this is text from the quote... this is text from the quote... this is text from the quote... this is text from the quote... this is text from the quote..."

NOTE: VNN Staff will not enter into debate over why an article is not published! Sorry...

• be respectful and polite even when disagreeing others
  
• spellcheck your text!
  
• specify the title and author of the piece
  
• if the article is in response to another article, specify (best with VNN story# or URL)
  
• separate paragraphs with a blank line
  
• have someone read it over and correct before submitting it to VNN
  
• if you are excited when writing your article, wait a day or so and reedit
  
• If you have formatted your text extensively save it in HTML format and send in the email body or if too large attach to the email (with no compression or encoding). You can also attach word processing (MS Word) documents and pictures to your email
  

If you overlook these points because you are in a hurry to get your article out and published your article may end up at the bottom of the list or not be published at all.

Some article may not be published even though they may not violate any of the guideline above. Due to the sheer volume of material that VNN receives, VNN cannot publish all articles submitted.

a) Refer to the author who wrote the editorial only in the opening paragraph, as follows: "This editorial is in response to the article "____" written by "____."`

b) In your editorial, refer only to the editorial you are responding to, not the devotee who wrote it. For example instead of saying "Prabhu ____ said" use "as stated in paragraph 3 of (article name)".

2) Do not enumerate devotees past problems.

3) Do not make assumptions that a particular devotee might fall down in the future.

4) Use an exclamation point "!" only when praising someone or something.

5) Do not be sarcastic.

6) Do not be superior in your humility.

7) Avoid blanket statements, i.e., "all _______ are ______." Krishna is the only "all."

8) Avoid inflammatory statements such as, "______ is trying to destroy (control, manipulate...) ______."

9) If your editorial or response was written while you were angry, wait a day and reread it-edit if necessary; let someone else read it and edit if necessary, then send it.

10) Do not write how humble and unworthy you are to give an opinion and then trash another vaishnava's character. A person can not stab another in the back humbly.

11) Write as if every editorial were a letter to someone you greatly respect.